EWING — Frontier Airlines will suspend its flight schedule from Trenton-Mercer Airport for two months this fall while a safety enhancement project is installed on the airport’s main runway, the airline said yesterday.

Officials said flights will be suspended on Sept. 9 and resume Nov. 8, after the project is completed.

Frontier has recently been the subject of controversy among travelers worried about the impact of the impending closure of the airport’s air traffic control tower. The Federal Aviation Administration said the tower will close May 5 as a result of the across-the-board federal budget cuts called the sequester.

Frontier executives have said they will keep to their planned flight schedule when the tower closes.

The break in the schedule in September is not related to the control tower closure.
During the two-month period, construction crews will install an Engineered Material Arresting System or EMAS on the airport’s longer, 6,006-foot runway.

The EMAS is an area of specially designed crushable concrete blocks at the end of the runway that slows and stops planes that overrun the runway. EMAS beds were installed at both ends of the airport’s shorter runway last year.

County officials said they are required to install the EMAS to comply with FAA regulations on runway safety. The project has been planned for several years and is required to be completed by the end of 2013.

Daniel Shurz, a Frontier senior vice president, said in a news release the airline asked county officials to move the project’s construction and installation schedule to the fall because it is the “lowest-demand period of the year.”

The Denver, Colo.-based airline is selling tickets for flights through Sept. 8, and tomorrow will begin selling tickets for the week of Nov. 8 to Nov. 13, the release said.
“While suspending service is our least favored option, this short-term disruption will produce long-term gains,” Mercer County Executive Brian Hughes said in a statement. “We are pleased that our partners at Frontier are able and willing to work with us as we meet our federal obligation.”

The EMAS project will cost $15.8 million, with $14.2 million coming from the Federal Aviation Administration.

County spokesman Michael Boonin said the crews will work on both ends of the runway simultaneously. The project is expected to take the entire two-month period, he said.

All non-commercial flights, which makes up the majority of traffic at the small airport, will be able to continue operating as usual.

Frontier began flying from Trenton-Mercer in November, first offering service to Orlando, Fla.

It has announced an expansion and starting next month will offer flights to 10 destinations.